Hugo Chavez makes an ass of himself again...

By Aleksander Boyd

"We need a level of consciousness so we are willing to die for what we defend," Hugo Chavez 14.06.06

London 15.06.06 | To be frank nothing is more embarrasing to Venezuelans nowadays than to have such an ass for president. Not that we had luminaries or examples of gentlemanly in the past, but Chavez is in a category of his own. Yesterday he was trying, again, to instill yet more fear on Venezuelans with a display of AK-103 rifles. As pictured above, he flaunted the constitution, again, worn military fatigues and, as depicted, was meant to be taking aim at something. This man, let us not forget, was caught shitting on his pants, hidden beneath a desk in the Military Museum on February 4th 1992 whilst other soldiers, presumably with normal levels of testosterone, were assaulting our country's democracy. The über fit man in the background is Venezuela's Minister of Defense Ramón O. Maniglia Ferreira. Do these halfwits really think that they are frightening anyone?

Chavez, ever the democrat, made the most of the military charade and threatened to suspend broadcasting concessions to private TV stations, which, in his view, are paid by the empire. "No one should be surprised. Within the constitution's framework everything; outside of it, nothing" he quipped. Shame that none of the lackeys sitting there had the balls to remind him that his wearing of military fatigues is "outside" the constitution's framework. "We must revise the concessions that are to expire in 2007" Chavez continued. In any case the response from those 'paid by the empire' was swift: Alberto Federico Ravell, owner of Globovision, explained that its license expires in 8 years, whilst Marcel Granier RCTV's expires in 2020. Mind you how bloody useless can Chavez's minions get, that not even licenses expiry dates they get right?

But considering the intellectual depth of those with and around the imbecile it can only get funnier. The mono-party Assembly approved in first discussion a law that basically seeks to impose state control over NGOs activities in Venezuela, irrespective of field of work. The bone of contention here is the fact that human rights and electoral NGOs have exposed the systematic violations and anti-democratic actions as part of a state policy, and have accepted donations or contributions from international organizations to conduct such work. Therefore the Solomonic solutions proposed by the idiotic chavistas is to criminalise NGOs acceptance of foreign funds, which, effectively, will make further work inviable, for the regime does not provide funding for activities perceived to run counter to 'the revolution,' such as documenting abuses and defending human and civil rights.

No point of contention however arises without utterances of the 'notoriously democratic' assemblymen and assemblywomen. As reported by Tal Cual and translated by Miguel, here's a taste of what deputies had to say:

-- "These (the NGO’s) are oppositionist institutions, that see no further than their interest, that even affirm that the Government only wants the control of independent institutions, given that they are NGO’s that receive money from Governments form other countries." Saul Ortega, chair of the Foreign Policy Commission.

-- “These are the same organizations that backed the coup that did not denounce (??) those deaths of peasants; definitely they are lackey organizations….” Carlos Escarrá, vice chair of the Foreign Policy Commission.

--“Of course we are going to control these organizations this is what the “people” (??) are asking for.” Iris Varela, chair of International Cooperation Subcommission.

--“We have received very strong attacks like that by Alan Garcia…this has to end.” Aurora Morales, chair of the Foreign Affairs and International Relations Subcommission.

--"We have information (??) that Sumate has 12.5 million dollars for the campaign and primary elections of one sector of the country, where they get this money needs to be investigated.” Deputy Jose Albornoz.

Fortunately not all is lost, for finally some sense has hit Spain's premier Zapatero. Not only has his party (PSOE) organized a seminar about the present and future of the left in South America -parties from the region have been invited- but the PSOE specifically excluded from the event so called 'leftist representatives' of Fidel Castro, Hugo Chavez and Evo Morales. Furthermore Zapatero's Foreign Secretary Miguel Angel Moratinos declared yesterday that Spain's government is willing to organize and support another seminar with Venezuelan political forces seeking to guarantee fair and transparent conditions in the presidential elections of December this year. After all it appears that our constant plights for free elections have not fallen in deaf ears, much to the chagrin of general-cum-chavista-ambassador in Madrid Arévalo Méndez Romero.

These developments demonstrate that Chavez's pious incantation has lost its powers. The only elements that keep peddling the line that he's the next big thing to have happened to Venezuela's democracy are radicals incapable even to own up to their own irresponsible allegations.